Marching, wings, and other things!
by a-really-uncreative-name
Summary: Max, Nudge, Iggy, and Dylan all join marching band, thanks to Nudge. Max doesn't want to be there, but who knows... she might just become the one who loves it most!


**Let me pause for a moment to give you a moment about this account. The second person on here has decided to stop fanfictioning so its just me now. Hi. Also, I've started marching band and now I'm obsessed and have very little time. I've also experience some writers block on my other stories from inactivity and the fact that I want to constantly throw in marching band because, like I said, I am obsessed. So enjoy this little marching band maximum ride story that has wings because the only other one in existence doesn't and that's not right. Enjoy**

* * *

The sky looked down upon me, taunting me with it's openness and freedom. There were clouds littered across the sky, sprinkled cotton candy on a pale blue expanse. I gave way from our staring contest first, snapping my attention to my feet when the instructor said to. In a mass of people, I felt completely out of place and uncomfortable, jealous of Iggy who was inside the school, learning music.  
I heard Nudge chattering away with a bunch of other girls about some trend or something, I think there was something about glitter in there. I there was a sudden whoosh to my right, and clattering on the ground. I didn't even want to look to my side, I knew what had just happened even after only one day at band camp. Somebody had dropped a flag, and judging by the lack of screaming, this time nobody got hit.  
"Band Ten-Hut!" The instructor called out. At the fourth clap, I brought my feet together, head up, hands to my sides, and yelled out "Hut!" at the top of my lungs.  
The sun beat down on my back, yet somehow was positioned just right for light to go straight in my eyes and make me squint. The instructors walked through our four by five block checking people's form. Sweat dripped down my back, the salty water trickling past my wings and making me very self-conscious.  
"We're just going to go by my instructions this time. If you do a good job, we'll break for dinner." The gock-block, a piece of torturously loud plastic-y material, started being gocked by our percussion instructor. I almost cringed, before remembering not to move at attention, for fear of having to do some ridiculous task and push-ups (which I didn't mind as much).  
"Mark time mark." He called out.  
"Four and one." The band replied monotonously. I felt like a robot, clicking my ankles against the ground in time.  
Anger towards Nudge and Dylan surged through me, they were the reason I was baking in the sun tapping my heels like an idiot. I didn't belong in a marching band, but I had to stay to keep Nudge safe and in line.  
"Band forwards march." The instructor called out.  
I stepped forwards with my right foot. "One! Two! Three! Four!" Another instructor kept yelling. "Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" The instructor continued counting. Then after another eight, the one was replaced by a "Left! Right! Left! Right!"  
Obviously angry, the instructor yelled at me. "Left on one Maximum!"  
I had no idea why he was talking to me, the other instructor kept yelling out numbers one through eight. "Band, Halt." The instructor in charge of commands sighed, exhausted for some reason. There was a click, and the guy in front of me brought his right foot up to his left.  
"There goes your dinner." He said, "At ease."  
A collective groan came from everybody. The guy next to me glared at me. "You step off with your left foot Max."  
Dylan turned from his spot diagonal to me, "Hey, it's hard to remember that kind of thing. We didn't have a marching band at our old school."  
He scoffed, "Doesn't matter, we've only stepped off a bunch of times today."  
"Back off Charlie, she's probably just tired." Why was Dylan protecting me so much? I didn't need his help.  
"I'm tired too, we're all tired. That's not an excuse." Charlie complained.  
What Charlie didn't know was that I hadn't slept the night before because I had been helping Iggy with his music, then I had to make sure nobody decided to drop in uninvited, and then I had to help Angel with a nightmare about her latest stint in a cage. "Whatever. We'll just do it one more time, right?"  
Charlie laughed, "One more time is a lie."  
A bunch of kids who heard Charlie laughed. "No duh Charlie, I thought that the last few times Mr. Johnson said one more time were true!" Alice replied sarcastically.  
Alice brushed her hair back, messing up her already messed up hair that used to be in a perfect braid to the right side of her head.  
"At a ready!" The instructor yelled out.  
Everybody shut up right away and looked down. We ran through a bunch of commands, and I even remembered to step off with my left, wait one beat between going forwards and backwards and backwards to forwards. "You earned your dinner. Go eat, you have 'till six-thirty, be back in the band room for ensemble time." He waited, testing us to see if we would move. "Dismissed."  
I wanted to melt into a puddle. I was so hot, so stressed, so tired. The whole tired thing was new to me, I had gone days without sleep before and not been as tired as I was from only missing two nights. I closed my eyes for a second, savoring the loss of the stinging sensation in my eyes. There was no time for me to autopilot and get some unconventional sleep. I was on guard at all times, trying to keep my family safe and to keep from slipping.  
I could feel myself slipping, tripping, forgetting things, making silly mistakes. The night before I had taken the whole night watch, and I fell asleep twice. I picked up my water bottle and trudged over to the band room.  
"Max!" Alice called out. "Wait up!"  
I didn't stop for her, I was hungry and tired and didn't want to talk to Alice. So instead of me waiting, she jogged over to me. How did this child have this much energy. "Max, we need to have a talk later. Can you stay a little after practice tonight? Just a little."  
What could she have to talk to me about? We weren't in the same section, and I barely knew her. "Whatever." I muttered and continued walking to the band room, speeding up to a brisker pace. Alice didn't follow.  
I picked up my dinner, and walked down the hallway to the cafeteria, passing the area where the pit practiced. I saw Iggy, eyes closed, head down, hands flying up and down some instrument with keys, deep in his part. I didn't wait for him, I was too hungry. I sat down on some bench and started pulling out food. Even though it was food for my whole family, I got some looks about how much food it was. I didn't care.  
Dylan plopped in the seat across from me. He grinned, and took a sandwich. Nudge walked by, chattering with the four other guard girls. It was pretty funny, Nudge walked into the band room the first day and saw the other girls and it was like WHAM, insta-bond. Nudge leaned over slightly with her hand just at table level, and I slid her the container holding her salad. She caught it mid sentence and kept walking.  
Alice, lead Iggy by his wrist to the seat next to Dylan, and sat next to me. She pulled off a backpack and pulled out a sandwich, and some other junk. "I brought presents!" She exclaimed. She passed a binder to each of us. "Merry Christmas, you know, in August."  
"What are these for?" I huffed, I didn't want some stupid binder to carry around and remember, I was having a hard enough time remembering the music stuff, school procedures, and marching rules.  
"It's to hold your music. There are little sheet protectors in there so that your music and drill stuff doesn't get damaged as easily."  
"Are you giving these to everyone?" Dylan asked with a shocked look on his face. I was jealous of Fang who got to watch over Angel and Gazzy back at our homefront.  
"No, just you guys. I know your family is in a bit of a financial pinch right now."  
I scrunched my face up, "How did you know that?"  
She winked, but didn't say anything. I didn't press further because I just wanted to eat and go home.  
I stuffed my face with my sandwich and didn't think twice about it. I made a mess of lettuce all over the sandwich wrapper, and started eating the little individual shreds.  
Dylan and Iggy finished quickly. "Oh you guys are finished!" Alice said with surprise, the kid seemed to have far too much energy amongst the masses of sweaty bodies and tired kids. She hadn't touched her food. "I think that means we can have our little meeting early. Hold on while I get Tiffany for you."  
I grabbed her wrist as she got up from the table. "Why would you need to get Tiffany? Just tell us now and I can tell her later. It's cool."  
She paused, deciding whether it was worth it. She sat back down. "We need to go somewhere else. for this." She got up and took Iggy's hand again. "Let's go down B hall really quickly."  
She disregarded her sandwich, which she gave to some other girl who was highly appreciative. She brought us down a hall, and I tensed ready for a fight. I almost expected her to turn into an Eraser, or a robot, even a squid monster. "I know your secret."  
"What? What secret?" I asked sarcastically, trying to play it off. She couldn't know. Iggy, Dylan, Nudge, and I had done a good job of hiding our wings, there was no way she could've know.  
"The wings one." She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Hold on, I think we need to go a little further down this hall."  
She brought us into another hall. She shrugged her shoulders, rolling them forwards and out snapped a pair of white wings with little brown spots that looked like ashes falling from the sky into a snowy background. I stayed stoic.  
She snapped her eyes open, head to the side, and wings back. "Someone's coming. Dinner's over."

* * *

**I'll know if you read this. So you should review. I'll take bad things (within reason, and you need to tell me how to become better because otherwise you're wasting your time), good things, even stupid things.  
Also updates here will be random because it's indoor drumline season and I'm trying really hard to learn all this stuff because I'm not in drumline.  
**

**Reviewers Challenge! (If you're interested)  
Guess what instrument I play, and I'll read and review one of your stories or give you an internet hug! (If you actually know me, then don't answer that question)**


End file.
